


Scarlet

by AliaBlackwell



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Bounty Hunters, Eventual Romance, F/M, Force-Sensitive Reader, Jedi, Slow Burn, The Dark Side of the Force, The Force, Twi'leks (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:13:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21862753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaBlackwell/pseuds/AliaBlackwell
Summary: A vicious fighter discovers his humanity. Has his care for the child made him soft? Or that much stronger? Mando discovers an intriguing woman working as an exotic dancer on a small, crime ridden world. He is fascinated by her grace and demeanor after saving her she returns the favor and the two are forced to flee together. The Mandalorian people may be their found family's only chance at survival and scarlet must reconcile her past with the Jedi and her future with the Mandalorian she loves.
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	1. Disgraced

Her sleep was filled with images. Some good, happy even peaceful memories flooded her mind with an alien contentment, but some were more familiar, they filled her with a feral rage. She remembered she saw children playing then dying. Jedi meditating and heads on spikes. The calm of the bubbling brook and the river of blood that ran through the galaxy as red and glaring as a Sith saber. She sat up stark in her bed, confused for a moment before returning back to the small cabin she called home, for as long as she could call it that. You see since order 66 she hadn’t had a home. Her home was her master, their temple. She was then but a child filled with the power of the force. A padawan learner, barely 15 years of age when her home was destroyed and her order hunted down. She could feel it, on the tide of the force she was one of very few left in the galaxy, her master was not among the survivors.  
She would never forget his screams, his final command to run. She had listened, like a coward she ran, and ran and hadn’t stopped since and now they were gone.  
She had done her best to stifle her anger but hatred had seeped into the cracks of her soul and begun to fester. She ran for her life, clinging to the Jedi way for as long as she could. Soon though she realized there is no room for good and evil in life and death. She was no longer a Jedi. Never again would she be so single minded. It was likely she wouldn’t survive the next decade. Small jobs and mechanical tasks had kept her afloat for long enough but were beginning to fail her so she looked for work elsewhere. Bounty hunting was a no go, she couldn’t draw such attention to herself and her abilities. So she bit her tongue and stepped into the cantina, she had been offered such a position before, usually she would scoff and swear that she was not a twi’lek whore, remind herself she was a warrior. But now she was desperate, and before her was a decently well paying job that would allow her to build connections in the local crime scene. Information was just as valuable from the lap of a bounty hunter as it was from her master’s teachings. So she took the offer.  
She swallowed her pride and stepped through the doors of the cantina, red lekku and black tattoos on full display as her cloak slipped from her shoulders. She pushed her shoulders back and stepped towards the bar.  
“Hey sweetheart? You lookin’ for a good time?” the man beside her slurred  
She scoffed playfully and placed a hand on his shoulder before standing up and disappearing behind the bar and into the back room. This wasn’t her first shift, far from it in fact, she even took some pride in the grace and persona she had managed to develop in her performance. She brushed past her coworkers, covered in sweat and body glitter. She removed her already skimpy clothing and replaced it with a black bikini made up of leather buckles and straps before lacing on her black, fang-like stilettos. Awaiting the shift in music and announcement of her stage name.  
“Scarlet” she heard echo from the stage and pushed the curtain open before stepping out on the stage. She placed one foot in front of the other and swung her hips in an exaggerated manner. Placing a hand on the shining steel pole before her and sinking to the ground. She entered the trance that kept her breathing, the rhythm became her heartbeat as neon lights blurred in her vision and reflected off of the polished steel. Suddenly she was in the air, she savored the feeling of her muscles rippling with every movement. Savoring the coursing ferocity and embracing the sexual charge in the air. Spinning lights danced in her vision and the vague idea of faces stared in awe. Except for one, one was more clear, deep grey steel scattered the flashing lights like the flurry of blaster shots in battle. A warrior, she locked eyes with a familiar character. Before her still and unphased was the helm of the Mandalore. The man beneath studied her movements as if she were an opponent on the battlefield. She could feel his gaze searing over her bare skin, she could sense his heart beating separate from all others in the crowd. She felt her feet hit the hard ground and sunk to her knees and then her back, feigning weakness and drawing in the crowd before vaulting into the air with all the grace of an acrobat before landing, standing tall before bowing and turning her back to the cheering crowd and disappearing behind the curtain.  
Pleased with the amount of tips she had amassed she took her payment and slipped her cloak back on and pulling the hood over her face. She stepped from the back of the pub and vanished into the city’s dark streets. Or so she thought. She felt it, an intuition that reminded her of her time in battle as the clone wars came to an end. She whipped around to defend herself but before she knew it the wind left her lungs and violent bolt of electricity entered her body. Every muscle in her body tensed and drew taught beneath her skin, forcing her to collapse, unmoving on the ground. A shadowy form lingered over her, she could hear the beeping of a tracking fob as he knelt over her twitching body to bind her hands and gag her. Strength surged through her and she thrashed. Landing a solid blow to the crook of his knee. He tipped off balance and her joined her on the ground as she desperately clamored to her feet. She was not quick enough in her weakened state and her pursuer charged her, ramming her against the wall of a stone building. She felt his shoulders crush into her ribs and her head smack against the stone. Bones crunching on impact. Her vision spun and the stars in the sky began to fade as she fell to her knees, gasping and hacking for breath. Above her loomed her victorious assailant, a blade in his hand moving for her exposed throat. As the world closed around her and she felt her life begin to slip from her, the bounty hunter fell to the ground with the sound of a blaster firing at incredibly close range. As if by magic his screams faded into nothingness as he disintegrated into dust. Then she saw him, the mandalorian approaching her, she desperately attempted to draw herself to her feet to run before everything finally went black.


	2. Masks

"Uhhg" she groaned and rolled to her side on the small cot. Clutching her ribs tenderly with hot, damp palms. She could feel it, the icy, steely glare piercing through her feverish pain and into her soul. The cold of his gaze should have cut her, it would have had she not been completely at his mercy. She knew the stories, barbaric steel warriors that murdered and destroyed without a second thought. But she knew better than most that we all wore masks, and very few of us were truly as simple as we might seem. He had saved her.  
You let out a sigh of acknowledgement as he glowered with some odd kind of worry above you. He didn't speak, but he didn't need to. There was an air of mutual respect in the stuffy atmosphere. She could feel it, the force swirled around them both and told stories of life, death and war. Two of a kind she had resigned herself to him, choosing to trust the man despite their lack of acquaintance.  
But as he walked away, steel boots clanging against the tired gun ship's floor she felt something else disturbing the force. It was different, softer but full of power, a small viper unaware of the potency of its own venom. She felt it's wonder and innocence. The aura of a force sensitive child, and a very powerful one at that.  
She recalled her time in the Jedi temple, surrounded by younglings as she spent her required time of temple service teaching. She remembered their giggling voices, the pure light that they radiated, the joy they brought her soldier's heart. Then she remembered them lying, gone, blood soaking the temple's floor as the Sith stalked its halls. All the light gone, replaced with the most pervasive darkness, the most toxic hatred in the galaxy. The fallen Jedi, Vader.  
She was little more than a child herself then. Barely 15 and forced to flee her sanctuary. She had been running ever since. A wave of concern began to fill her, the bounty on her head was quite high. Did he really save her? Or was the mandalorian simply collecting her to deliver her to her final doom? Surely not, the mandalorians knew suffering at the hands of the Sith, if any of the good she had sensed in him was real then there was far more to this man than a bounty hunter.  
A few hours later she got her answer. The man stood before her, completely unaware of her consciousness holding a small green alien child close to his chest looking into its huge brown eyes and stroking it's soft head with leather gloves,as if to soothe it. This was the presence she had sensed, this was the child. This man had fallen for it, for her, his compassion had gotten the better of him. He was not going to turn her in. In fact, she doubted he even knew what she was, that she had such a bounty on her head.  
For the first time in what must have been days she pushed herself to her knees and sat up looking at him. He calmly swiveled his head towards her like a shreik-Hawk honing in on it's prey. A slight smile pulled at her lips as he instinctively hugged the youngling closer.  
"Good." He said. "Your up."  
"Thankyou" quickly spilled from her pursing lips as a tear she didn't realize was forming spilled from her eye and a quiet sob escaped her burning throat. She laughed a small, sad laugh and buried her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment. "Sorry." She muttered " I don't know what's wrong with me." She did though, she knew quite well what was wrong, she knew exactly what was wrong. All those years of running, the feeling of another so strong in the force so close to her brought it all flooding back. The caring gaze of another, even beneath that black visor. She had felt nothing of the sort since that day, since before that day.  
She hadn't been reminded of goodness and love until she saw the hardened warrior cradling the youngling in his arms. And she couldn't keep from crying at the relief and sorrow with which it filled her.  
The helmet shifted slightly as he cocked his head in stoic concern. He took a gentle step towards her as if she were an injured animal that would lash out in fear if startled. He wasn't all that wrong she thought with a stunted giggle between sobs. He turned towards a small door and placed the child inside before stepping even closer. She hadn't felt the heat of another's body in so long, she savored the feeling of his broad gloved hand as it pressed gingerly into her bruised shoulder.  
"How do you feel?" He asked. Another awkward smile rose from her shaking form at the thought of such a vicious warrior suddenly behaving as if he were a nurse.  
"Fine… Just, overwhelmed." She lied. "Who are you?"  
"Just a hunter" this time he lied  
"Hunter?" The word rolled on her tongue.  
"I thought as much. A mandalorian right?" She stated rhetorically "Then I'm guessing I must have quite the bounty? I've heard mandalorians are expensive.”  
He looked at her in a sort of dazed state as if he himself had no real explanation for intervening.  
“No. Should you?” He shot back at her, a worthy and equally confounding retort.  
He was smart too.  
“Why did you save me then?” she responded more quizzically than intended. To be honest she wanted to get back, sink once more into hiding, she felt exposed. She was not comfortable unless she controlled her surroundings fully. This anxiety was a scar of the empire, one that would likely never heal.  
“You needed saving.” He stated matter of factly.  
“I'm guessing this rustbucket is your ship then?” She jested, tears still lingering in her eyes.  
“Yep” he said with a slight scoff.  
“Thanks again for helping me, but I really must return to my life.” She said and shifted her bare feet to rest on the cold floor before shakily rising to her feet with a wince. Damn those broken ribs were a bitch.  
“If theres anything I can do to repay you…. You have but to ask” she stated. A bit hesitant at what someone of his stature could want from you, who was as far as he knew a lowly twi'lek stripper. But still something told her to trust him  
She could hear the child cooing from the small panel in the wall behind her and shot him a questioning look.  
“Is that you’re kid?” She finally questioned  
“Yeah, I suppose so.” he replied with a tinge of awe in his modulated voice.  
She reached an open hand to him and he took it in his own and firmly shook it before following with a turn as she threw her brown cloak over her bare shoulders and walked down the ramp disappearing into the edge of the town.  
He sighed, still confounded by his own recent series of choices. Pondering the mysterious woman, she was more than she appeared and he knew it, he just wasn't sure how. Not yet at least.


	3. The fangs

Until this point she was under the assumption that she was safe, hidden but it seemed that the Imps had found her. Relentless bastards, she had to give them credit, even in the ashes of their glory they continued to hunt her with all the ferocity they could muster. But she had no intention of giving in. Relentless as they may be she was far worse. She was raised by the gods of war, always alone, always fighting, she had earned her survival and would not surrender anytime soon. A part of her was shaken by this sentiment, the Jedi in her told her that it was not the Jedi way, but it was her way and as far as she was concerned, the way. She would have to move on, find a new place to hide for now. She hated hiding, absolutely despised it. She was no coward but also no fool. It pained her that the bodies of those hunting her were still warm. As soon as she was able she vowed she would destroy them. She would make the galaxy safe again for those like her. Even if all the Jedi and Sith were dead.  
Not yet though, she was still alone, very, very alone. The mandalorian caring for her as she healed, that was the closest she’d been to another in a very long time and still he was so far away. Kind eyes hidden behind the expressionless beskar. She wondered, why he was here? Who was the child? Why didn’t he turn her in or even know of her bounty? She decided that she would keep tabs on him over the course of the next few days before she was ready to leave.

Mando’s POV  
She was exquisite, beautiful but she didn’t just move like a dancer she moved like a warrior. He knew there was more to the mysterious twi’lek than she let on. The fear in her eyes, the rage had clued him in, she was like him. She was a fighter. But why was she so sure he had come to capture her as bounty? Who wanted her and why? And why did it almost feel that when she looked at him her gaze bore into his very soul, despite his own face being hidden behind beskar?  
But he couldn’t focus entirely on her, he had to find some sort of job, restock on supplies for the kid and leave before they were tracked down again. So he entered the cantina where he had encountered her and approached the bartender.  
“I'm a hunter, I’m looking for work.” He said, leaning casually to his left elbow, awaiting a response from the scared man.  
“UHM” the tender cleared his throat. “ Of course.” He forced a shaky response and pushed a bounty puck towards the mandalorian.  
“Gambler, pretty high bounty. Here’s his fob and delivery location.” He said with a bit of lingering caution.  
“You’ll be paid upon delivery of the asset.”  
The man sighed in relief and Mando silently swept the puck and fob from the bar top and walked out of the grimy cantina.  
“Okay.” he breathed to himself. He had found work. Now it was simply a matter of completing it and receiving payment before anyone managed to track him down. Easy enough, before the child he barely even considered this sort of job work, but now he had more to worry about than himself. Not to mention he had become a prime target of every bounty hunter in the galaxy. An alien feeling fluttered in the hardened bounty hunter’s chest, anxiety. He took a deep breath of the moist forest air and stalked back to the razor crest. As he entered the child cooed happily at his arrival and tottered towards him as he set the bounty puck down on a large supply crate. He sunk to his knees and swept the strange baby into his arms. Gently setting him back into his hovering bassinet.  
He approached the puck and began to plan his course of action. They were here on this planet and based on the fob not overly far away. Male, 45 years of age. Mando collected his gear and secured the child in a small closet on the ship before disappearing into the night in search of his mark.

Sil’nah’s POV  
She coursed through the small cabin, collecting the hidden necessities of her past. Fake ID, rations, med pack, blaster, knife, ect. Finally convinced that she had all of what she needed and no more. She kneeled on the rickety wooden floor and ran her hand over it to find any major irregularities in the boards. There. The board was slightly raised and the nails more gnarled than those surrounding it. She ripped the decaying board from the floor and retrieved a leather backpack from the darkness. Reaching inside she felt them. Two heavy cylindrical objects whose touch made her heart flutter. Her lightsabers. The two curved wooden and steel handles formed perfectly to her hands. They felt as if they were part of her in her grip, a deadly extension of herself. She sighed shakily before clipping them into her belt and throwing the black cloak over her skin tight grey leggings and gauze bound chest, covering her weapons. Oh how she longed to hear them thrum with power, to feel their green light cascade over her body once more, but she couldn’t afford to raise suspicion. She would have to wait until they were needed. For better or for worse, she had a feeling that that time was not far away. Finally ready to leave she stepped through the door and faded into the shadows.

Mando’s POV  
The fob’s beeping grew frantic as he pursued his prey through the dense forest on the outskirts of town. He could feel it, the thrill of the hunt filling him with a familiar, demented joy. Part of him abhorred this love for violence, as now he was so much more than a hunter. He cursed the softer side of his consciousness, reminding himself that this is the way, this was his way. Suddenly the air changed and an eerie silence ripped him from his thoughts. He could hear his own breath rattling in his helmet, feel his weight shifting in the damp soil. Something was wrong. His senses keened, on high alert he stood like this for what felt like an eternity before finally deciding that his only option was to continue forward with great caution.  
The fob indicated that the target should be right in front of him. He stepped forward towards the origin of the signal. Before him on the ground lay severed head still inside of a mandalorian helmet with the visor shredded thus revealing the horrifically mauled face beneath. He dropped to a crouch immediately and the forest was a blaze of blaster fire upon him. Damn it, he thought to himself. He should have known. 

Sil’nah’s POV  
What the fuck was that? She wondered. The roar of gunfire and lazers lighting the forest before her up like the night sky. She knew this was a bad idea but couldn’t help herself. Her lust for action drove her towards the battle. She dropped low as she neared the hot zone, assessing the situation. The majority of the fire rained down from the trees, all seemingly aimed at a single individual inhabiting the forest floor. Then suddenly it dawned on her, as he dove and rolled into constantly changing cover, stopping only to line up a single deadly shot with his disruptor rifle. Adeptly dodging as many shots as possible the beskar blocking the rest. Suddenly though, his adept movements were disturbed as a laser found a weak spot in his armor and he stumbled.  
Her heart began to race as blood coursed to the surface of her electrified skin. Without even realizing it she had her blaster in hand and quickly found her target and a bounty hunter dressed in tight black clothing with a strange, monstrously painted mask fell from the 50 foot tree with a sickening crunch. She couldn’t very well escape now, and she never would have been able to leave him even if she hadn’t been noticed. Not after what he’d done for her. She ran to the mandalorian’s side and pressed her back up against his own in an effort to help him stand with a blaster burn to the leg. She began tracking the hunters through the treetops before pushing mando to cover. Crouched behind the giant trunk of an ancient tree he injected a med booster directly into the muscled portion of his thigh through the black canvas covering him. He grunted and rose again to shaking legs before rolling out of the way of another well placed blaster shot from the canopy. A small cable flew from his arm and found the source of the shot before he twisted his body towards the ground and ripped her from the tree. She laid, gasping for breath on the ground as the mandalorian approached her shaking form before stepping firmly on her broken ribs and firing a single shot directly between her horrified eyes.  
Sil’nah leaped into the air grabbing a branch and flinging herself toward the next visible assassin. Knocking the man off balance on his precarious perch. She drew the perfectly sculpted weapons from her belt. She felt the ringing of the kyber crystal deep in her bones as the green blades sprung to life and swiftly severed the head of the hunter before her. She dropped down to the ground to protect the injured mandalorian from any remaining bounty hunters. She deftly swung the green fangs around her self protecting both her and mando from blaster after blaster shot and sending them back towards their assailants. Another dropped from a rickashaying bullet and the remaining two fled through the trees.  
At the conclusion of the battle Mando collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain.  
“Who the hell are you?” He growled painfully.  
She removed her hood and sank down to his level before him.  
“I am Sil’nah and I believe we’re even now.” She teased as she wrapped an arm beneath his and gently grasped his chest plate with the other before forcing his weight to stand.  
“We need to get back to the Razor Crest.” He groaned  
“I assume that’s the name of your ship then.” she guessed. “Come on.” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”  
She lifted him the rest of the way to his feet and began to help him towards the ship which lay deeper in the forest in a now scorched meadow she had once enjoyed meditating in long ago.


	4. Among the stars

The Razor Crest may seem a little rough around the edges but Sil’nah had grown accustomed to worse living situations. The mandalorian still layed resting against a supply crate where she had placed him hissing in obvious pain. She continued to meddle in the medical container mounted on the wall. When she had finally located the burn gel, a suture pack and dressing materials she paced over towards him and crouched down to his level.  
“No allergies or adverse reactions I should know about?” she scanned over him, combat medic training kicking in.  
“No, no painkillers.” He grunted  
“Strange.” She muttered. “If I were you I’d want and epidural.” She joked in a strange effort to distract him.  
“ I wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for you. I must accept the pain that comes with defeat if I ever expect to learn from it.” He said.  
“A strange lot you Mandalorians.” she said as she used her combat knife to slice through the black canvas that had adhered to his seared flesh.  
“Aahg” He cried out as she applied the gel and began to clean the bubbling wound of dirt, cloth and dead flesh. She grinned a bit at him and a sharp hiss of pain escaped him.  
Finally the wound was clean and she applied more medicated gel before covering the burn in specialized gauze meant for burn wounds and bound it tightly with a thick field dressing. At the retreat of her firm, painful touch he sighed and allowed his covered head to lay back against the crate. She checked the rest of his body over for any other wounds that might require attention, although the armor made it difficult to see any bruising or signs of joint trauma she was satisfied.  
“Lucky you, it doesn’t seem that you’ll have to put up with my suturing skills. Today at least.” She could almost feel him roll his eyes at her as she reached beneath his shoulder to help him towards the cot at the other side of the cargo bay.  
“Hold on. Sil’nah was it?” He said as she eased him down. “Thanks.” A strange sort of sincerity radiated from him.  
“Just returning the favor.” She shrugged nonchalantly before turning her attention to their immediate safety.  
“We need to get off this planet. It seems we’re both being hunted and that both of us have been found.” He lifted himself from his hard earned seat and began up the ladder to the cockpit, motioning for her to follow. She blinked as she was suddenly surrounded by a sky of glittering stars. He moved into the pilot’s seat with a grace she didn’t expect from a mandalorian considering their reputation as brutish and violent, especially in his current injured and presumably exhausted state. With the same grace he expertly navigated the ship’s controls. Setting the thrusters and the proper altitude for planetary escape and programming the ship to reach extra atmospheric orbit so a hyper jump could be safely accomplished. With the flip of the final switch the engines on either side of the cockpit roared vibrantly to life. She felt the ground beneath her feet shift as the machine left the planet’s surface. She sank quickly into a chair to steady the fluttering of her gut as her balance danced from her core. Adrenaline and dopamine coursed through her thumping heart, she had forgotten how magical it had felt to fly. And as they exited the atmosphere she felt the cold, safe embrace of endless space surround her like a mother’s womb. She had forgotten the safety there was in isolation among the stars. A slight shift in the air signaled the engagement of the artificial gravity and they were off, free in the endless night.  
“You look… terrified. Are you okay?” He said snapping her out of her state of fascination.  
“Oh no. Fine. It’s been so long since I’ve left the surface of that miserable planet, I had forgotten the feeling of flight.” She whispered, eyes still wide surveying her prison of the last five years shrinking before her, glowing in the shadow of the red dwarf star.  
“Where to Mando? If I can call you that.” She asked.  
“Outer rim.” He stated with a sort of exasperation in his voice. No reply in the way of a name. Okay, Mando it is then she thought playfully to herself. She watched as he set the nav Computer to a far sector of outer rim space many light years from their current position. The ship buckled as it entered hyper space and the starry sky became streaks surrounding the now truly isolated beings.  
He rose abruptly from his seat and slid down the ladder. She ducked her head down to watch him, hanging from the cockpit like an over sized bat. She watched as he approached the closet she had seen him place the child in before. With the command of a button on his metallic wrist the panel opened and revealed the small green infant. Cooing at the sight of the mandalorian he reached his small three fingered hands towards the man in hopes of being picked up. The mandalorian obliged and lifted the child from the small nest of blankets. She swore in all her life she had never seen anything quite as strange as this vicious killer, this mandalorian rocking a small child of unknown origin in his arms and placing in his small hands a sort of bottle filled with a brown liquid which the baby immediately began to drink. The armored bounty hunter placed the temporarily pacified child back into his bedding.  
“Where did it come from?” she asked gently as she approached him.  
He jumped, startled by her presence.  
“Where do you think?”he said sarcastically.  
Rolling her black eyes she sighed. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Look, I get it. You barely know me but at this point we have to trust each other, I risked everything to save your ass. The least I deserve is an answer.”  
“I thought you said we were even.” He retorted flatly.  
“Fine. How do I get you to trust me?” She sighed in defeat.  
“Tell me.” He said “where did you come from?”  
“Me? That’s a long story.”she dismissed his probing.  
“Then I guess you don’t need any of your questions answered either then.” He shrugged.  
“Alright fine.”She resigned. “I was born on Ryloth. I don’t remember it though, when I was three I was taken by the Jedi.”  
“So your a Jedi. Didn’t strike me as the peaceful master of the force type.” He said with what she thought might be the hint of a laugh.  
“I believe the Jedi would agree.” She laughed. “ I was never meant to be one of them, at least now I don’t have to be.”  
“So I take it you weren’t fond of the Jedi?” he asked.  
“Quite the contrary actually. They were everything I knew, I was heartbroken when I saw the temple in ruins but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized just how wrong they were. I was always an angry child, restless. The Jedi feared that, said it drew me towards the darkside. They were always afraid of me, so afraid of my passion. I saw the distaste of the masters every time I bested another in combat training.” She reminisced.  
“Yet you stayed with them?” He asked quietly  
“Yeah, I mean they were all I knew. Where else would I have gone?” She retorted.  
“How old were you when the order came?” He asked.  
“Barely fifteen years old. A newly assigned padawan learner. I had recently begun to fight in the clone wars. I had even found some kind of happiness, I had accepted the Jedi way and let go of my emotions.” She answered him. “The Jedi way.” She scoffed. “And what did that get them? Death. The suffering of those they had pledged themselves to. Allegiance to either extreme of the force has never ended well. Just look at the ashes of the Sith and Jedi.”  
“I'm sorry.” He sighed gently. And the air was pregnant with sorrow as Sil’nah had begun to shake at the thought of her past.  
“I never knew my parents either. They died in the clone wars. The mandalorians took me in, raised me as one of their own.” Mando offered an awkward attempt at comforting her.  
“Yeah.” she muttered shaking her head, dismissing her vulnerable expression of grief.  
“So. I spilled my guts to you. Where is the child from?” She quickly changed the subject.  
“He was a bounty. A former imperial officer was obsessed with it. All I knew when I went to find him was his age, fifty years old.” He said  
“Fifty years? But it’s an infant!” She exclaimed in surprise.  
“I was surprised too. I was supposed to terminate the target for delivery but I couldn’t do It. I turned him in, took my reward. I almost left too.” He explained.  
“Couldn’t do it?” she guessed.  
“No I couldn’t. He had already saved my life, I had no idea what they had planned for him. A child, who had even come to trust me. So I went back, destroyed their facility and almost made it off the planet, but the bounty hunter’s guild was waiting. They almost killed me but my people saved me allowed me to escape. I’ve been running ever since.” He answered with a hint of guilt in his voice.  
They sat in contemplative silence for what felt like an eternity, examining the disasters that had become their lives. At some point the mandalorian rose to his feet and pulled himself into the cockpit. She continued on in her state of mental absence until the ship’s turbulent humming signaled their exit from hyper space. She shook herself from her trance and joined him in the cockpit. The child cooing sadly at her as she left him alone in the cargo bay once more.  
“Where are we landing?” She asked.  
“Florrum.” Mando replied, distracted by the complaining nav computer as he rerouted it to make orbital entry into the atmosphere of the strange, pirate ridden planet.


	5. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi this is Alia. Author's note.

I'm new to archive of our own and sharing my writing online. I'm so glad that you guys have read and hopefully enjoyed this story. I already have a general idea for where the story is going but if anyone has any suggestions on smaller story lines involving these characters I would be open to such suggestions. And of course if you notice any errors that I have missed feel free to mention them nicely in the comments. And if you have any general (kindly expressed) feedback i'd be glad to hear it. Once again thank you so much for reading!


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